Top News

Introducing Windows 8 Consumer Preview — Moments ago in Barcelona, we announced the release of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, available to download now for anyone interested in trying it out. We've been hard at work for many months now, and while we still have lots more to do …

Microsoft Windows 8 Consumer Preview detailed impressions — The early days of Windows were inauspicious ones. Sitting on top of DOS, it was hardly a revolution in personal computing — instead it felt like a disjointed platform perched uncomfortably atop a command prompt, ready to come crashing down at any moment.

Facebook's Mobile Ad Plan = Twitter's Mobile Ad Plan — Facebook is still in the first stages of a half-day marketing event, but it has already laid out its long-awaited plan to sell ads on mobile phones. — But if you were paying attention to Twitter's ad news yesterday, then you already know about Facebook's ad news today.

Lytro review — You've never seen a camera like this before There are a few easy ways to make a digital camera better: make the sensor bigger, improve the quality of the lens, speed up the processor. But those are incremental improvements on a basic technology that hasn't changed much in a long time.

First week review and first 1,000 images with Lytro — the camera that lets you refocus after you shoot — I was very fortunate to have had a +Lytro camera for the last week. What is that? It's a new kind of camera: one that captures the light field, aka all the rays of light that are hitting your subject.

Who decides what gets sold in the bookstore? — We can probably agree that the local supermarket has no moral or ethical or business obligation to sell cherry-flavored Cap'n Crunch. If the owner doesn't like cherries, she doesn't have to sell them. — And the cereal maker shouldn't work under …

With SeaMicro buy, AMD to double down on servers — SeaMicro's SM10000-64 server. — Updated: AMD just confirmed the deal and said it would pay approximately $334 million, of which approximately $281 million will be paid in cash. — Chipmaker AMD plans to announce its acquisition …

Apple reportedly considering 14-inch MacBook Air — Apple is reportedly considering launching a 14-inch MacBook Air and may start mass production in the near future to fully enter the Asia PC market, according to sources from the upstream supply chain. — Currently, 14-inch panels …

Microsoft's Windows Azure has a meltdown — Summary: Customers on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform are reporting they've been down for hours. — Customers are reporting that Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud platform has been experiencing a major meltdown in geographies across the world.

Blizzard lays off 600, likely primarily in customer service — Blizzard Entertainment is eliminating 600 positions from its global workforce, the publisher announced earlier today. The layoffs came as a result of reviews of the company's organizational structure, with a press release announcement specifying …